3 Best Radio Apps To Listen To Local AM/FM Radio Without Data For Galaxy S9

In search of a way to listen to AM and FM radio on your new Samsung Galaxy S9? And without using up your data plan? Well, we’ve got good news and bad news for you. The good news is that almost every smartphone has an FM Receiver chip inside of it, which allows your phone to pick up FM radio frequencies that you can listen to by way of an app. The bad news is that most carriers keep the FM Receiver inside of your phone turned off, and there’s no way that you as an individual can turn it on.

There are a couple of devices where the FM radio chip is turned on, but the Galaxy S9 is not one of those phones. However, all hope isn’t lost for listening to AM or FM radio. Follow along below and we’ll show you how you can tune into your favorite local stations.

TuneIn Radio

The first and probably best way you can listen to AM/FM radio is through an extremely popular app called TuneIn Radio. Serving over 50 million listeners per month, TuneIn Radio is serving up access to around 100,000 radio stations worldwide. In addition to typical radio station access, there are plenty of on-demand programs you can access, as well as podcasts you can tune into. TuneIn Radio makes it easy to start listening on your Galaxy S9, and then continue on a tablet or computer elsewhere.

Listeners will love the support TuneIn Radio has for hands-free capabilities. Simply say “OK Google, listen to Nash FM” or “OK Google, listen to WYCD” and either station will start playing. Of course, you can change the name of the radio station to whichever your preference is!

Download it now: Google Play

iHeartRadio

The next best app that you can use to tune into local radio stations is iHeartRadio. This one uses your phone’s data plan to stream the content from them, as iHeartRadio doesn’t support AM/FM listening through the phone’s FM Receiver because, well, generally the FM Receiver isn’t enabled in smartphones.

The neat thing about iHeartRadio is the wide access to content you have. It’s completely free to use, and you’ll be able to access all of your favorite local radio stations — they’ll just stream over your phone’s data plan. However, in addition to that, you can listen to radio personalities live and even catch your favorite podcasts.

iHeartRadio even has a subscription plan that you can subscribe to, if you want. This will enable you to listen to any song you want, have unlimited skips, and even download songs for offline listening. If you’re ready to get started with iHeartRadio, and for free, hit the link below.

Download it now: Google Play

NextRadio

Next Radio might be last on our list, but it’s one of the best ways for listening to AM or FM radio signals. Once again, you will have to have that FM Receiver chip enabled in your smartphone, but if it’s on, NextRadio will use that to stream content from all of your favorite local AM and FM radio stations. To listen to FM and AM radio stations, you will need to have headphones hooked up, as it uses your headphones as an antenna to pick up those radio signals.

However, if the FM Receiver isn’t enabled, you can still use NextRadio, but instead of using that FM Receiver chip, it will be using your phone’s data plan to stream the content instead. But don’t worry too much! The neat thing about NextRadio is that it’s really efficient as far as data use goes — you can use NextRadio for hours at a time without it taking up too much of your data. Other than that, the user interface is laid out very nicely, so it’s easy to access stations and navigate to different parts of the app without much hassle.

Download it now: Google Play

Verdict

It’s almost impossible to listen to FM or AM radio frequencies with the FM Receiver in your phone being activated. On the off chance that it is activated in your smartphone, you’ll be able to listen to NextRadio without using up any of your data; however, if it isn’t activated, you’re going to be stuck using apps like TuneIn Radio and iHeartRadio to tune into your favorite local radio stations and talk show programs. Do you have a specific way that you listen to FM radio while you’re on the go? Let us know what it is in the comments section below!

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